Mushroom Pasta & Stone Farmers Market

I was absolutely gutted that I missed out on the London Veg Fest, I won a ticket too but unfortunately I couldn't make it due to other commitments :( I did however manage a trip to Stone Farmers market which was held over the Stone Food Festival last weekend (Friday to Sunday). The Stone farmers market is the best in the area and every time I go I'm sure it grows by a couple of stalls.

The farmers market is normally held on the first Saturday of every month so the next one is Saturday 2nd November. However during the Stone Food Festival the market is on both Saturday and Sunday. If you live nearby you really must take a trip and see what's going on. 

I was pleasantly surprised to find some vegan food for sale too so I couldn't resist buying it, in fact I spent a fortune! There were your usual vegetable stalls selling lots of organic lovely produce and my favourite stall is the Derbyshire mushroom stall which sells a variety of mushrooms from Crimini, Shiitake, Oyster, Enoki and Porcini. I always buy a large mixed punnet as I love my mushrooms! I also bought a jar of porcini powder, which you can use to enhance the flavour of casseroles, stews, soups or any dish really. It adds depth of flavour to a dish and is a fantastic ingredient to have in your store cupboard to perk up a dish that needs that something extra.

As well as the usual stalls that sell a variety of olives, sundried tomatoes, garlic, dolmades and artichoke selections, there were bakery and cake stalls, Indian food, the usual non vegan stalls and a couple of stalls selling their wares from local breweries and vinyards. A great selection for the vegan and non vegan alike.

My regular readers will know that I'm not a fan of mock meats at all, but I couldn't resist buying a vegan black pudding. I'm not sure that I will try it but I can't wait to serve it up to hubby to see if he notices the difference!

Ingredients: Cooked Pearl Barley, Rusk (Wheat Flour, Salt), Rolled Oats, Protein (Starch, Flour, Protein), Oatmeal, Non-hydrogenated Vegetable Suet, Salt, Barley Flour, Beetroot Powder, Herbs & Spices, Roast Barley Malt Extract, Natural Flavouring. Allergens: Wheat, Gluten, Celery.

Another purchase which I was over the moon with was from the "snoggable garlic" stall, Belinda makes three vegetable/nut roasts, two of which are vegan! Yay! One roast will feed two people although they are sold as single portions. She also sells a variety of olives and dolmades which are stored in olive oil rather than brine so they taste much nicer!

With all this lovely food about we got hungry very quickly and  munching on some garlic stuffed olives wasn't enough to curb the hunger pains. I've not had a great deal of success in Stone with finding vegan food but then again I haven't particularly looked that hard and I'm sure if I were to give any restaurant ample notice something would be prepared for me. But just on the off chance we nipped into Fleur's Tea Rooms and I was pleasantly surprised to hear that their vegetable chilli was in fact vegan!

All in all a pleasant day out! 

So what did I do with all those lovely mushrooms I turned them into a pasta dish.

Ingredients   

Glug of Olive oil

1 Onion, chopped

1 Clove of garlic, crushed

300g Mixed mushrooms, diced

2 Tbsp Mushroom ketchup

2 Tsp Paprika

1 Tsp Garlic granules

2 Tsp Dried lemon thyme

1 Tsp Porcini powder

1 Tbsp Flour

250ml Soy cream

1 Tbsp Vitalite

Salt & Pepper

200g Penne pasta

Method

Add the pasta to boiling water and cook for 10-12 minutes or until al dente.

Meanwhile fry the onion in a little olive oil until starting to go brown, add the garlic and continue to cook for another 2 minutes.

Add the mixed mushrooms and 1 table spoon of the mushroom ketchup, cook until the mushrooms release their liquid and then add the other tablespoon of mushroom ketchup along with the paprika, garlic granules, lemon thyme, porcini powder and flour. Stir to combine and cook for another minute.

Slowly add the soy cream a little at a time until all the cream has been poured in, cook slowly to heat the cream through and thicken the sauce. Add the vitalite and quickly beat into the sauce with a wooden spoon to give a glossy shine to the dish. 

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the pasta, reserving a little of the water and add to the sauce. Stir to combine and add a little of the reserved water to thin the sauce down if needed. Serve at once.

Apologies for the bad photo's it was a late night tea and my two bulbs in my kitchen light had blown!